Well, I just did my first CMP shoot today at my local gun club just down
the country lane from my house. That was something! I recommend everyone give it a whirl sometime. I bet there’s one in your area.
[Photo taken at my local gun club.]
Background…
I’ve been shooting at this club since I was a little kid, but I’ve been
a member only a few years. It costs $50 a year and gives you admittance basically to your own private park, if you can go there during odd daytime hours, like I can. There seem to be about 50 regulars. It’s been around for decades, but the township is growing up around it like weeds. The club stays a good neighbor, however, with strict rules. There are about 300 paying members, though—most are hunters who only get in a brief tune-up before season. I seem to end up shooting at all the wrong times of year. There’s not much hunting to be had around here anymore anyway. Unless you buy it, which doesn’t sit right with me. So I shoot when it suits me.
For the past few years, I’ve owned an old .22 autorifle and a .22 Ruger
pistol, plus a .357 S&W Model 19 Nickel, just like I shot when I was
a kid. I ride out to the range, pulling my Burley trailer full of shooting
stuff every now and then to unwind after a heavy bout of work.
I find that I particularly like shooting at 100 yds with the .22 rifle,
standing. You can get into a great rythmn this way. In fact, having a great rythmn is the key to success. I can put most of 14 shots in the 6″ black in one minute. I have to be able to “leave it at the office” to calm down enough to do it right.
Another event that I’ve become enamored with, is shooting the .357, 6″, at 100 yds as well, standing. I’ve hit the 12″ paper every time occasionally. I’ve also greatly enjoyed shooting the pistol at 175 yds. Doing this very well requires keeping better track of which ammo did what than I have done so far, so I’ve only had one satisfying try at it. But I hit a 24″ target most of the time anyway.
I’ve gotten some funny looks doing all this shooting. No one else does it.
I watched a guy practice Bullseye shooting once. A trooper. Cops do this event a lot. You only use one-hand and you strike a fencing pose. It’s the VERY hardest event. 25 yds. I quickly got better at it. It’s so cool to see the improvement. To hit a 3″ black with every shot is amazing. My first tries I missed the paper every time. The trooper hit a 2″ black every time. But he didn’t shoot 100 yds.
Then I remembered the CMP Event. It’s a 100-year-old Round that’s been scored the same since it started. It’s a military event that civilians can participate in and get official ranking. I asked around about it and sure enough my club hosted these events. I eagerly signed up and went. I’d never done such a thing or shot such a gun as I knew these events involved.
Back to our feature…
…And what a nice bunch of helpful guys hosted the CMP event.
I’m sure we had vets of several military periods participating, including
law enforcement.
CMP is an Army Program for civilian defense readiness. If you pass, you get a letter that lets you purchase an official M1 Garand for a very reasonable price (choose one of 3 grades). You shoot a .30-06 Garand, 70 rounds, peepsights, in 3 positions at two different paces, slow- and rapid-fire, (usually at 200 and 600 yards, but our club was limited to 200 yds). You have to reload in the middle of timed rapid-fire rounds using clips.
The neatest thing is the different ranges, especially the long range.
Plus the variety of positions and pace of firing. And the fact that you’re using open peep sights only.
Our local club had several loaner rifles, one of which I used.
The event cost $15 and all participants both shot and then handled targets and scoring down-range. A fine, educational team-work event.
It makes me want to try 600 yard open sight shooting. What a thrill!
Firsts for me: shooting past 100 yds, peeps, high power (.30-06), a real match, timed rapid-fire, clip-loading, using a Garand, helping
score an event.
Oh, and I’m a lefty! (Ouch!) —Whew, what a list! (Also I was suffering nasty labored breathing due to extreme bronchitis.)
Obviously this could have been a time for somewhat of a system overload, and I came close to it, but the gang hosting was very clear
and helpful.
The target handling and scoring system, alone, is fascinating. When you’re not shooting, you head down-range and work the targets in a big long bunker, which is connected to the firing line by an old crank telephone. The targets are quite large and after every round, you lower them on big pulleys, score them, flag them with big coded border markers to indicate to the shooter how he did, then raise them up again on command.
OK, I gotta brag a bit: I got 2 X’s and a 414 score! I couldn’t be more pleased. The X is the small center of the 10-ring. You can get 500 points max. Over 450 and you are on your way to being classified as Expert. I believe that my score put me well in the range of Sharpshooter.
(It was really neat, too, scoring for a guy who got 7 X’s and 465. Open sight X’s at long range are a true joy!)
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CMP 2nd Try is a Charm!
Well, I did my 2nd CMP event today at the Capitol City Rifle Club, Williamston, Mich. A truly *park-like* club setting. And a splendid fun time was had by me and by all! We had a blend of rookies, beginners, regulars and pros shooting a wide range of weapons, from stock M1 club service to highly modified match .223’s, with everybody helping out.
Sunny, cold day—25F. 200 yd range.
I happily used a club M1 again with club govt ammo and took a few sighters. I realize I need to get my offhand figured out. But the rest I’m pleased as punch with! It was NEAT to see my rapidfire sitting group thru the scope afterward and see it all bunched in the black. I ended up with 446 my 2nd try! Dang, almost 450–that would’ve really been something! (My first try in Dec. I was sick and panicky and got
414.)
I think I’ll have to get my CMP M1 so I can zero it in on my own and really figure out the offhand. But there’s something to be said for using a surprise weapon. –When (not if!) I figure out offhand, I bet I can break 450 with the standard club weapons. It would be FUN to put a little heat on the match custom rifle guys, I tell ya!
A fellow with a nice .223 shot 485 with 16X’s today! Said to be the best ever club CMP event score.
They say our club might do a 1000-yd clinic this summer at Camp Grayling. Now, that would really be something!
A fellow showed up to show us all his new CMP *Service* Grade M1: It was a sharp, all matching HR, with sweet Birch/Beech(?) stock that had strong feathering/fiddleback throughout. It looked unshot! Everyone was excited to see that! He said it came in a shrinkwrap. The others said it looked nicer than the pricey Collectible Grade.
(For more rookie bragging, yesterday I shot my old Ruger .22 autopistol for 86/100 standing on the official 25yd target, for whatever that’s
worth. I had decided that an 80 would be great after three of us competed for an hour against each other for maybe 6 rounds and none of us broke 80. Then my last target I got 86 and was very pleased to call it a day. Now I’ll have to try for 90!)
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Gun Fever
The hallmark of the CMP event is the chance to own your own M1. After wars, rifles are restockpiled. The CMP program is a fundraiser to make money to support the nation’s youth shooting programs, which are extensive and long-lived. They sell armory firearms to approved citizens at a good price.
It used to be that you could buy “your M1” for about $100 through the CMP. Any other way cost you about $800. These are famous, collectible rifles. Who knows where your CMP rifle might’ve come from? It may have been used to liberate Io Jima. The rifles are serviced by career armorers and volunteers. They’re certified shootable and that’s it. You can typically buy only Service Grade. Sometimes special lotteries are held for fancier grades. The program is simply your chance to own a real M1. You can order one a year. It used to be only one per person. They’ve now expanded the program to offer a variety of other rifles, including match AR-15’s (to clubs only) and target .22’s. Nowadays, your CMP M1 will cost you $500. But you can get a lovely ‘new’ Mossberg M44 target .22 from the 1950’s for $75. Visit this website for more info: www.odcmp.com.
Anyway, at CMP events all you hear is Did you get yours? Get your order in? You gotta get your order in.
I’ve never had the available cash. But I’ve been shooting for years now. My whole life really. And I’ve plead poor as the M1’s went from $200 to $500. I’m finally ordering “mine” just days before the $400 deadline runs out and the price jumps up. I’m also ordering a Mossberg .22.
I guess I’ll find out what it’s like to shoot a real rifle. That’s basically
the bottom line. Apparently every highpower shooter owns an M1. At least one. The AR-15’s win the matches today, but everyone loves the sound of the M1. I hope to put the scare in some AR’s with mine. People advised me as a beginning longrange shooter to buy an AR ‘mousegun.’ I just can’t do it. I’ll only be able to have one rifle, this one time. My sympathies for the Viet era soldiers are growing, but I’ll stick with the old cannon.
I’ve been using crappy guns for too long. My .22 rifle jams every other loading of 14 shots, requiring dismantling, which I’m now fast at. It shoots a 1.5-2″ group at 25 yds. The guys tell me that the old Mossberg will group em into one .30 hole. It will be my practice rifle. We’ll see what
happens.
Martha thinks I’m plumb nuts, loco. But these will be items that Henry can learn on. Learn what, I really don’t know. I don’t have the words for it. I hope it’s not just an obsession with learning some useless, generic skill. Hand-eye coordination might be a better thing to learn…no, shooting the way we do involves a good bit of that, but maybe learning to throw good is more useful…so maybe timing ones running and jumping (I never could). Well, why not just learn it all. I like visiting the Pro Speed batting cage as much as anyone. It’s cool trying to figure out how to hit a 90mph fastball.
I’m still not even registering on anyone’s chart for target work or even for real gun action. Everyone’s “best buy” always starts at about $300, usually $600-800. People just stare when I tell em my budget is under $100.
…But wait til they see me shoot.
